The desirability of tamper-indicating, child resistant closures for use with threaded bottles is well recognized in the art. In fact, the prior art is replete with disclosures of such closures.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,889, issued to Gach, a tamper-indicating, child resistant closure employing an inner threaded cap and outer driver telescoped over the inner cap is disclosed. A removable spacer 36 is interconnected to the upper end of element 34 by a thin frangible web 38 that extends around the spacer. After the spacer is removed to separate the movable element from the frangible web a person can open the package by pressing inwardly on the element 34 and rotating the outer driver in a counter-clockwise direction until the element 34 snaps into position behind the abutments on the outside of the skirt of the inner cap, as is illustrated in FIG. 6 of the '889 Gach patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,900, issued to Manera, discloses a tamper-indicating, child resistant closure including a break-away tab member 14, which needs to be removed from a latch member 9 in order to permit the latch member to be moved linearly into driving engagement with a post 11 extending upwardly from the top wall of an inner cap of the closure system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,718, issued to Buono, discloses a tamper-indicating, child resistant closure assembly including an inner threaded cap and an outer driver. A first set of teeth 34 in the inner cap is designed to cooperate with a second set of teeth 50 forming part of the outer driver when the inner cap and outer driver are moved into axial engagement with each other to thereby permit the opening movement applied to the outer driver to be transmitted to the inner cap. This axial movement initially is precluded by the provision of spacers 62 provided on a segment of the outer cap that is removably connected to the outer cap through frangible tab connections. Once the outer section of the cap is removed by breaking the frangible tab connections, the spacers 62 also are removed to thereby permit the inner and outer caps to be moved axially relative to each other to thereby provide a driving connection between the inner and outer caps to permit the assembly to be open.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,669,620, issued to Coifman; 4,527,701, issued to Schaubeck and 4,371,088, issued to Gach, disclose arrangements wherein the axial movement of an outer cap member relative to an inner cap member causes a projection associated with the inner cap member to engage and separate a segment of the top wall of the outer cap member attached to adjacent regions of the outer cap member through frangible tabs. In this way, a visual indication is provided that the assembly has been tampered with.
It also is known in the prior art to provide threaded caps having an upstanding gripping end to provide leverage in rotating the cap to remove it from a threaded bottle. Applicants believe that this is a highly desirable feature, and believe that a need exists to incorporate such a feature into a tamper-indicating child resistant closure. It is to such a closure that the present invention relates.